Oil burner



Jul 22 1924. 1,501,950

w. s. HUMPHREY OIL BURNER Filed June 11, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 605 Line1,501,950 w. s. HVUMPHREY I OIL BURNER Jul 22 1924.

Filed June 11, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 11v VENTOR A Tram/5 y Patented July22, 1924.

OIL BURNER.

Application filed June 11, 1923. Serial No. 644,618.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER S. HUM- PHREY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson 6 and 'Stateof Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in OilBurners; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled 10 inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to oil burners and the primary object thereof isto provide an improved oil burner so constructed that the oil will besubjected to the action of an incandescent part of the burner as it isfed from the vaporizing chamber, thereby insuring a complete gasifyingof the oil with marked efficiency over those types of burners in whichthe oil is ignited before it is generated into a relatively dry gas.

In carrying out my invention I fprovide a base for the burner consistingo a material having a high heat resistance so that the base may beheated to practically incandescence, radiating intense rays of heatthrough the vapor dischargefrom the generating chamber prior to having,the gas ignited.

It is an important feature of the invention that the base be of suchmaterial that it will heat up to incandescence since it has been foundthat the oil vapors burn with marked efliciency in an incadescentzoneand it is also important that provision be made for eliminating or atleast reducing the liability of carbon forming in the passages or in thevaporizing chamber because where there is an accumulation of carbon, theefiiciency of the burner is materially reduced.

In order to provide for more perfect combustion I have provided a mixingchamber in which the heated or vaporized hydrocarbon is introduced intothe mixing chamber and combined with air so that the fuel thus providedcan be fed against the incandescent zone of the burner. The mixingchamberv is in the form of a nozzle, having an expansion zone so thatthe vaporized fuel may expand as it comes into contact with the air toeffect a thorough cormingling of the two constituents of the fuel. Thefuel is fed against the incandescent zone in the form of a blast so thatperfect combustion will take place and the vaporizing chamber isarranged to surround the incandescent zone or to be 1n sufficientlyclose proximity thereto so that there will be a thorough vaporization ofthe hydrocarbon content" of the fuel before it 1s mixed with the air.

There are other novel features of my invention, all of which will bespecifically described herein-after, reference bein had to theaccompanying drawings, in w ich Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a burnerponstructed in accordance with my invenion.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, sectional view through the burner mixing chamberand sugply nozzle and the incandescent part, an

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal view of the air supply pipe, the gas primingnozzle being shown in elevation.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates a furnace which may be of any preferred construction. Thefurnace is shown as being provided with a burner base 2, the burner basebeing in the form of a metallic ring having a groove 3 with refractorymaterial in it. he ring carries a central refractory member 4 having ametal oil pan 5 surroundedby a plurality of air inlet openings 6, theinlet openings being arranged in circular series. The pan 5 has anoverflow port 7 in the side of the central air inlet pipe 7 connected toa pipe 8' which 91 discharges into a bucket or receptacle 9 to operate avalve 10 in the main oil supply line 11.

The receptacle 9 functions in a manner similar to that shown in myapplication Serial No. 635,099, filed April 27, 1923 so that when'theoil overflows to fill the bucket 9, the supply will be cut off in theplpe 11.

The oil pipe passes through the burner members: and discharges into ahollow ring or manifold 12, which surrounds a coneshaped block 13 ofrefractory material supported from the leg. 4: ofrefractory materialcarried by the member 4 so that the pipe will be heat insulated from theflame of the burner. The leg 4: co-operates with the leg 4" tosupport'the retort. The ring-shaped manifold 12 has an 1nverted U-shapedoutlet pipe or arch provided w th two legs 16 and17 which dischargethrough a nozzle 18 into a spherical expansion head pump 22 driven by asuitable motor 22'.

The pipe 21 is made up of a plurality of sections with overlapping orslip joints so that the pipe sections can be readily assembled. The pipe21 has a damper or valve 23 therein, b means of which the effective portarea the pipe 21 may be controlled. There is a gas priming p1pe 2iadapted to discharge into the pipe 21 (see Fig. 3), the pipe 24 beingadapted to be con-, trolled by a valve 25 so that it can be normallyclosed, the valve 25 being unseated only to prime the burner.

When the parts are assembled and the air pump or impeller 22 isoperating, air may be forced through the pipe 21 into the head 19 to mixwith the vaporized h drocarbon. The spherical form of the hea or mixingchamber 19 is important since it allows for a thorough co-mingling andmixing of the hydrocarbon and air and since it is of suificient size toallow expansion of the air and fuel within it, thorough mixing will beinsured. The form of the head is such that liability of carbon beingdeposited therein will be eliminated.

By providing the head of spherical form, a construction is providedwhich insures a uniform flow of the combustible mixture in the desireddirection; that is, toward the refractory cone, thereby resulting incombustion taking place in the center of the incandescent zone whichprevents the burning of the vaporizing ring or retort because there willbe no liability of the flame being deflected over the retort.

In actual practice I preferto locate the nozzle 18 in the top of thehead 19 so as to protect it from heat and to so locate it that itsdischarge end will be cooled by the introduced air fed from the pipe 21.The effect of this is that liability of carbon forming in the nozzlev 18will be eliminated.

Since the vapor pressure through the nozzle 18 is in excess of the airpressure when the pump is idle, it will be apparent that if, for anyreason, the pump fails to function, the gas will siphon the air throughthe pipe, thereby permitting the burner to operate successfully with theadditional air supplied through the openings 6 and with the air whichpasses throu h the material in the space or groove 3. he material whichfills the groove 3 allows air to pass through it because it is coarseenough to allow the passage of air. The purpose of placing the materlal1n the space or groove 3 is to provide a mufier so that there will be nolianeonate bility of a roaring noise due to the passage of air such asis coon in certain types of burners.

As a refinement of my invention ll prefer to construct the retort andthe arch of copper because copper does not have an afinity for carbon.The copper gives ofi microscopic scales which are thrown ed by the wallsof the retort and the wall of the arch, permitting the scale and theliberated carbon to e thrown out through the burner head through the gasnozzle 18. llf the gas nozzle is made of brass, there will be lesstendency to scale because the brass is a harder material and since itmay be provided with a smooth wall, the carbon and scales may passthrouh the constricted outlet or aperture 18', to size of jwhich shouldpreferably be about one-eighth inch diameter.

The pipe 11 is provided with a valve 26, controlled by an arm 27 whichmay be connected to the damper 23 so that the air admitted through pipe21 can be proportioned with respect to the passage of oil fed throughpipe 11.

lit will be apparent from the foregoing that the device is simple inconstruction, that it may be readily set up and that a thoroughco-mingling of the fuel constituents will be provided before the fuel isfed onto the incandescent zone and since the fuel comes in contact withthe indescent zone 13, it will be apparent that a thorough combustioncan take place.

What ll claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In an oil burner, a base comprising a ring-shaped member filled withloose material to admit air through the member, an oil pan within thering, a centrally located refractory member above the pan, a" supportfor said member, a ring-shaped retort above the base and about therefractory member, a hollow arch communicat with the retort, and aspherical mixing chamber communicating with the hollow arch and having anozzle in line with the refractory member.

2. In an oil burner, a spherical air and vapor mixing chamber having adepending nozzle, a hydrocarbon vapor generating retort, a hollow archare. with the retort, .the middle portion of the arch extending over themixing chamber, a nozzle afiording communication between the middleportion of the arch and the spherical air and vapor mixing chamber, thesecond nozzle'having a restricted opening within the spherical air andvapor mixing chamber and located at the top thereof in line with thedependi nozzle. 1

3. In an oil burner, a base, a ring-shaped retort above the base, arefractory member within the ring, a support for the refractill llltlMED tory member, a hollow arch communicating with the retort, aspherical chamber above the member having a nozzle in line therewith,means for feeding air to the spherical chamber, and means affordingcommunication between the hollow arch and the spherical chamber.

10 about the conical member, an oil supply pipe communicating with theretort, a hollow arch communicating with the retort, an air and vapormixing chamber having a nozzle in line with the conical member, meansfor admitting air to the chamber, and means affording communicationbetween the chamber and the arch.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WVALTER S. HUMPHREY.

